I'm all for being positive, but I think I'll refrain from dousing myself with the Conor Kool-Aid after 45 PAs or being contented with a Beckham-Ramirez infield. At a certain point it just seems like we're searching for peanuts in a heap of elephant dung.

Besides, 3 weeks of play are not indicative of larger, season-long trends. It takes about double that before you should begin to worry that, say, Dunn has completely lost it or proclaim that we have a potential starting caliber player at third.

Things are not well on the South Side. Our minor league "stars" are struggling to hit .200, and our everyday squad up here could not be any worse. Just ask the Swamp Donkey himself. And to make things even sadder, we have the absolute worst announcer(s) in all of baseball. What exactly did they "fix" in Hawk and Stoney's chat in the off-season? Hawk has done nothing but get worse and seems to be taking a page out of the Ozzie Guillen handbook of bridge-burning and daring someone to fire his insufferable butt.

Gilaspie plays like he's afraid of being interviewed after the game (which is actually a good thing, believe me), he will grind out at-bat's, and he didn't cost us a thing. I'll take it, especially at the hot corner. But beyond that, Sale is not a sure thing, Alexei hasn't looked like his 2008 self since...well, 2008 and trying to find a beacon in the darkness after that will just make you sad. Finally, if Gordon Beckham is still looked upon next season as part of "our core" to build around, no -- scratch that -- if he is our starting 2nd basemen next year I will be really sad.

A 112 OPS+ is a 112 OPS+. He was decent enough last year to warrant more than a 3-week evaluation.

I'll have to disagree; this is a classic case where sabermetrics fall short.

Look at his numbers of 2011-2012, outside of the first 50 games of 2012:

.174/.298/.345

I don't care how well he hit in April and May of one year if that is what you are getting the other ten months of two full seasons. He could magically transform into Willie Mays for two months, if you're getting the above production the other 260 some odd games, he's hurting your team - big time.

Now, using your eyeballs, you can see he is garbage in 2013. There's no reasonable, er, reason to expect him to improve at this point. He's not worth the space on the roster.

But beyond that, Sale is not a sure thing, Alexei hasn't looked like his 2008 self since...well, 2008 and trying to find a beacon in the darkness after that will just make you sad. Finally, if Gordon Beckham is still looked upon next season as part of "our core" to build around, no -- scratch that -- if he is our starting 2nd basemen next year I will be really sad.

Depending on what metrics you use, TCM was actually as good or better than his rookie year in '09, '10, and '11. Improved defense (which includes the move to a more important defensive position) and plate discipline plays a part, even if the power and average took a bit of a dip. Last year was concerning, no doubt, but it's nice to see him hitting in April for once.

__________________The universe is the practical joke of the General at the expense of the Particular, quoth Frater Perdurabo, and laughed. The disciples nearest him wept, seeing the Universal Sorrow. Others laughed, seeing the Universal Joke. Others wept. Others laughed. Others wept because they couldn't see the Joke, and others laughed lest they should be thought not to see the Joke. But though FRATER laughed openly, he wept secretly; and really he neither laughed nor wept. Nor did he mean what he said.

Why? We all know when his contract expires, we all know he sucks ass and I don't think a daily reminder of how bad Adam Dunn is is needed. We already have a daily reminder of how bad he is, it's called White Sox baseball.